eg.
var point = { x:0, y:0 }; // Create object point which with 2 properties
So for your codes, it means create a sorttable object, and it has many methods like guessType, makeSortable ....
It is core JavaScript, all major browsers support it.
sorttable = {
init: function() {
.....
},
makeSortable: function(table) {
.....
},
guessType: function(table, column) {
....
},
..
}